


Love Live! Secret Santa!!

by rainbowwrites



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Maki-centric, hanamaru-centric, two stories bc i have to be extra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 11:46:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8978365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowwrites/pseuds/rainbowwrites
Summary: Maki was always ready to help her friends, but they will always be there for her as well.Hanamaru explores the city. Everyone is endeared by her.(Secret santa present for Spade_Meri for the school idol tomodachi secret santa!)





	1. Maki Saves the Day!!

Generally, Maki was regarded as one of the more down to earth, reasonable members of μ’s. She wasn’t alone – Eli and Umi tended to also agree with her. But some days, it seemed like Maki was the only one to have herself together. 

Today was one of those days.

She had barely made it into the school building before Umi and Kotori were on her, looking frazzled and worried in equal measure (with a small side of annoyance from Umi). It had to be too early in the morning to be that upset about something. Maki knew they shouldn’t have skipped morning practice that day, but Rin had been ill for a few days and no one wanted to push her too hard.

Still, Maki was an intelligent girl. She prided herself on it. Only one thing could rile both Umi and Kotori up so much.

“Where’s Honoka?”

“We don’t know! She wasn’t at home when I went there this morning, but we can’t find her here!” Umi had started before Maki had even finished asking. It wasn’t as if Honoka hadn’t done this before – once something had caught her attention, she couldn’t let it go. It was that attitude that brought them all together, even if Maki had been reluctant at first. 

“Do you need her? She should come back before class starts.”

“Umi’s making sure she’s not starting to sneak snacks again. Hanayo’s been so good with her rice, but the bakery Honoka loves has new bread in!”

“Did you look for her there?” 

“It wasn’t open when we went by!”

Maki considered this for a few moments. There was a chance Honoka was waiting for the bakery to open – Maki could almost imagine her gleefully bouncing, talking to complete strangers about how bread was the best when it was fresh from the ovens. The more she considered it, the more likely it sounded.

“She might have been waiting? Maybe she hid. I’m sure she’ll be back in time for class. We’ll have to let her have today, and be more careful in the future. Maybe we can ask Yukiho to keep an eye on her too.” 

Umi and Kotori stopped their worrying to consider this. Umi seemed reluctant to let Honoka off this easily, but was guided away by Kotori, who promised she could scold Honoka when they practiced at lunch. She waved her thanks over Umi’s shoulder, and Maki could already see some of the tension going. Honoka had a way of showing up in the nick of time – they’d be fine. Maki smirked to herself, slightly proud that she had sorted that so easily. 

She would definitely be there to watch Umi go against Honoka and her beloved bread.

***

It seemed Maki’s day as solver of everyone’s problems had not walked away with Umi and Kotori. When she walked into her classroom, Hanayo and Rin looked equally as lost. Maki had a soft spot for everyone in μ’s, of course, but Hanayo and Rin were the first people she could really call her best friends, ever. 

“What’s wrong with you two?” Rin sneezed in response. She was looking a lot better, but seemed to still be getting over the end of her illness. After the incident with Honoka, no one wanted to overdo it whenever one of the members got ill.

“I’ve been trying to get better and practice a little at home, so I’ve had no time to do homework~” She looked pleadingly at Maki, as if she wasn’t asking for her to do something between now and their lesson. 

“So what do you want me to do?”

Hanayo jumped up, causing Maki to step back a little bit. She was usually so timid, but when Hanayo put her mind to something (normally rice), she could be almost a force of nature. Maki had a feeling she had been waiting for Maki to get there.

“You’re super smart, Maki! You can help her, can’t you?” Maki blushed a little and looked away. It was one thing to know she was smart, it was another to have Hanayo declare it to everyone. She grumbled a little under her breath about how she did well because she studied hard, but still took a seat next to Rin.

“Alright, we’ll do what we can now and explain to the teacher that Rin’s been unwell, but now that she’s back she’ll get it done. But that means you have to study extra hard, Rin. This needs to be a really high standard if we don’t want her to get mad.” Rin pouted a little, but ultimately nodded with the same enthusiasm she had for performing.

“Maki! You’re Rin-charge!” Maki cringed a little at the pun, but smiled and looked down at the sheets in front of Rin. With Hanayo helping, they got a decent amount done and Rin was allowed to hand the rest in late, because she had obviously attempted it. Hanayo winked at Maki when she stayed silent instead of pointing out how in the end, she had to explain most of it to Rin.  
***  
Eli and Nozomi were late to rehearsal. Nico had said that they had some extra work to do, but would come up later. They would never just miss practice outright. Still, it felt strange with only seven of them, so Maki had set off to find them. 

As she figured, they were in the student council office, sorting through piles of papers and stamping most of them. Eli looked slightly flustered, but Nozomi seemed calm as always, smiling tiredly with each piece of paper Eli handed to her. 

“Maki, what are you doing here? Isn’t everyone practicing?” Nozomi had been the first to notice her, speaking before Maki had finished opening the door. She didn’t always buy the spiritual power thing, but sometimes Nozomi was just uncanny. 

“Do you want some help? We’re just catching Rin up at the moment, and Umi’s telling Honoka off for sneaking out to get more bread this morning.” Both Eli and Nozomi chuckled a little, Eli looking a little less stressed for it.

“Would you mind, Maki? It’ll go much faster if we have an extra pair of hands.” She sat down, realising only then that she had no idea what to do. Nozomi smiled and put down her stamp.

“These are budget requests from different clubs. If we approve them, we use the green stamp and put them in that box there,” She pointed to a small outbox appropriately labelled ‘approved’. “If we can’t afford it, we stamp them in red and put them in the box next to it.” 

It was simple enough – Nozomi and Maki would read out requests to Eli, who would mostly nod but sometimes shake her head. Depending on what she said, they would stamp them and put them away. It did seem much faster with Maki there, and she felt slightly proud to be helping with something so important. 

By the time they were done, they still had time for Nozomi and Eli to change and get some practice done. They could possibly run over the choreography twice. 

“Thanks for your help, Maki. We really weren’t sure if we’d make it today.”

“You’re like our own little helper, sent by the gods! I’ll be sure to thank them later.” Maki turned, red faced and telling them to get ready quickly. She allowed herself a small smile though, glad that she could help.

***

Maki hadn’t wanted to mention the piano recital. It wasn’t a big deal, and it wouldn’t impact on her time as a school idol – it was just something to do on the side, like Umi and her archery or Nozomi’s work at the shrine. Something that she enjoyed and wanted to make the most of.  
Of course, like Nozomi at the shrine and Umi’s archery, the others caught wind. The difference was, Nozomi had asked for their help. Maki wondered internally if she and Umi could learn from her. Maybe then these embarrassing incidents wouldn’t happen.

The group were all there, cheering with various degrees of enthusiasm. Nico was yelling, actually yelling, at her to make sure it was the most beautiful piece ever for her Nico-nii (and wasn’t that the cringiest thing ever). Honoka and Rin were shouting at her to do her best, waving little handmade flags with Maki’s name on them. Then there were Nozomi, Kotori and Hanayo, who were still shouting but looked positively understated compared to the other three. Umi and Eli were applauding and cheering, but also making a note of trying to blend in with the rest of the crowd. Maki had to appreciate that.

She left it in first place, embarrassed at the way her friends fawned over her. But in truth, having them there, knowing that they were taking time out to support her, only made her want to do better. She wanted to make them proud, and this time she would admit that maybe it was nice to have people around her, embarrassing and noisy as they were. She wouldn’t trade μ’s for anything.


	2. Hanamaru: Zura in the Big City!!

The group had collectively decided to go to Tokyo for the day, to try and find that urban flair that made city idols so popular. They tried asking Riko, but she only apologised for not being into the school idol scene earlier and said she couldn’t be much help. Ruby and Dia were still so shocked how someone who went to Otonokizaka could not have known much about school idols, but that was a debate long since put to rest by the others.

Hanamaru had never been to a big city before she joined Aqours. She was sure of all the girls, she was the one who needed the most help finding her urban, fashionable side. Growing up in a temple in a small seaside town had not done much for her in the way of understanding how big cities worked. A part of her had been expecting to be scared by Tokyo, with the sheer size and number of, well, everything.

Instead, she had been amazed.

Everything was electronic and seemed to work as if by magic. Dia had tried to explain it once, but Hanamaru was barely listening and eventually Kanan had just told Dia to leave her to it. Each time she went, Hanamaru found something new and exciting to fawn over. At this point, the others would let her, smiling fondly as she exclaimed each time that it really was the future. Tokyo really was like another world to her sometimes. She had no idea how Riko had just lived there.

They had gone to a department store so they could look at several shops at once without having to be out in the cold too much. The winter was hitting fast, and the temperatures had dropped pretty quickly, though it had been a little warmer in the city, with all its people and lights and heated buildings. 

They had definitely gone to the department store. The other eight girls had managed to go inside with no problem. But something had struck Hanamaru and she watched as Kanan stepped through the door, so eager she could almost feel herself bouncing a little.

The door moved on its own. It wasn’t like the other doors that moved on their own; the ones that just opened and closed when someone got near them. These ones just kept going around and around by themselves. The people don’t have to push them or anything, they just walk into the little segments and go around until they get to the other side.   
Ruby had been worried that she wouldn’t walk fast enough, but she had managed just fine. Everyone made it look so effortless, like they saw this all the time.

Well, the people who actually lived there probably did. It had to be so cool to live in a place like this. Hanamaru thought she’d be completely overwhelmed if she did. Or maybe everything would stop seeming so wondrous, though that seemed so unlikely.

She had barely waited for everyone leaving the store to step out before taking a tentative step into the moving segment, squeaking slightly when she saw how the next of the glass panes was catching up. This was faster than it looked from the outside. A couple of other people stepped in with her, looking almost bored. A girl complained to her friend that they needed to just get some normal doors, and Hanamaru could not understand for the life of her why anyone would want that. 

Who wanted normal doors you had to open yourself when you could have these magic spinny ones? These were the doors of the future!

She was coming up to the inside, where she could already see Mari pointing at one of the shops, probably prepared to steer everyone there as soon as Hanamaru joined them. Ruby was smiling back at her and Yoshiko (or, well, Yohane now, but she was always Yoshiko to Hanamaru) had her hand over her face. Even with a few feet between them, Hanamaru could hear her muttering gleefully about the city of sin and her little demons.

It was all part of her charm, really. Hanamaru almost wished she had something defining like that. But maybe a little less weird, she could never pull off weird. 

Inside, everyone seemed to be warming up already and Chika looked like she couldn’t decide where to begin, but felt like she wanted to be the one leading the group. You smiled, waving Hanamaru over to them in case she had somehow missed the group of eight girls loudly fawning over clothes and coffee.

Only Hanamaru didn’t go over to her. Instead she carried on going around, already feeling the cold breeze from outside before she faced it again. Some people were looking at her, but most just carried on. 

When she came back around again, Ruby was worriedly pulling on Dia’s coat sleeve and You’s smile was faltering a little, her hand starting to come down. Hanamaru could hear them discussing amongst themselves.

“Do you think she’s stuck?”  
“Should one of us go get her?”  
“Zuramaru! Can you get out!!” 

She could absolutely have gotten out. Once Hanamaru was in the revolving door she found it actually didn’t go too fast. But she liked going around in it. She liked how it was moving even though no one was touching the glass, and how one minute she would be warm inside the store and the next she would be back out in the cold. It was fun, going around and around. She nodded happily back to Yoshiko, who – like the rest of Aqours – looked slightly worried for her.

“It’s the future, zura!” A few of the girls chuckled to themselves, the rest smiling. They let her go around a few more times before sending Chika in to get her out so they could actually go shopping, otherwise there was a chance that Hanamaru would really spend all day going around in the door. Or at least a few hours more. She was still staring at it in slight awe when she finally joined the rest of the group and Mari herded them towards the shop she had been looking at. Ruby patted her arm as they walked off.

“It’s okay, Hanamaru. We’ll get to go through it again when we go back outside!” Hanamaru nodded, smiling and bouncing slightly. There really were so many marvels in the city.

***

She had only gone around twice when they left, and Ruby and You had gone with her. Even though Hanamaru knew they didn’t find the door even half as exciting as she did, they giggled and smiled along with her anyway. That was the thing about Aqours – they loved each member for what they liked and who they were. Hanamaru never felt embarrassed about how technology naïve she was around them. 

“It’s so cold! How is it still too cold!” Chika was pouting and Dia nodded in agreement, bouncing from foot to foot. They had gotten used to the heated building of the department store and even though they were used to the colder nights far from the city, it was still a shock. Mari was breathing into her hands even with gloves on. 

“Come, my little demons, and let Yohane’s hellfire warm you~” Yoshiko would have been more convincing if she hadn’t shivered slightly. Still, it made Hanamaru laugh. Riko suggested they go to a coffee shop before they headed back to the train station and she was met with enthusiasm from everyone else.

“Hot chocolate will warm us up! Come on, if we jog a little we’ll start feeling warmer before we get there!” Kanan had set off already, laughing and looking back to make sure the other girls were following. Hanamaru didn’t feel like jogging in this weather, but nothing ever seemed to stop Kanan. Still, she picked up her pace a little to keep up.

The coffee shop had been just as amazing as the store. They had so many different choices; Hanamaru had no idea how the other girls decided so fast. At least Ruby also seemed to struggle with her decision, so she felt a little less overwhelmed. In the end, Hanamaru had chosen a hot chocolate with whipped cream and caramel, and smiled when Chika said it matched her hair. She had always thought her hair had been rather plain, but Chika had seemed so amazed when she said it that Hanamaru thought maybe it wasn’t so bad to have caramel hair. When she looked around at her friends she wondered if they really needed that urban flair they had tried to look for. Aqours was special in its own sense – every girl brought something unique and charming, sharing the same big smiles. Maybe that was all they needed to be; not cool or fashionable, but genuine and vibrant. Hadn’t Ruby told her once that μ’s were like that? A group of girls who shone so brightly together that everyone noticed.

It made Hanamaru happy to think she could shine too, and when she would next look in the mirror her hair would remind her of sweet drinks and laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> GEE BILL HOW COME YOUR MUM LETS YOU HAVE TWO ONE-SHOTS bc I have to be so extra about everything I do.  
> Anyway, merry Christmas! These were a real joy to write (even though I struggled a little with Maki) and I hope you enjoy them!  
> Feel free to talk to me: sinkissedwriting.tumblr.com


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